Rot And Decay In Hamlet Analysis

When buried six feet down, without a coffin, an unembalmed corpse normally takes eight to twelve years to decompose to a skeleton. On that note “There is something rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.iv.90). Within Hamlet, Shakespeare makes a number of references to Denmark’s forever fading state due to the insane amount of rot and decay taking place. Hamlet is a play about a hurting son trying to seek revenge on his father’s death, but unlike many others he has difficultly taking action. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet the motif of rot and decay is revealed when Hamlet talks about maggots on a lifeless dog (II.ii.185), when Hamlet states worms are the emperor of all diets (IV.iii.26), and when he holds a skull of a deceased person and talks about who it could be. (V.i.74).

Rot and decay can be found all throughout Hamlet. A prime example of this is when Hamlet talks about Maggots breeding on a departed dog in the burning sunlight. This quote comes from the scene were Polonius is trying to confirm Hamlet is crazy because he was forbidden to talk to Ophelia who he was in love with. Hamlet says to Polonius “Since if the sun breeds maggots on a dead dog kissing the corpse – by the way do you have a daughter?” (II.ii.182). In this quote Hamlet is talking about maggots eating the corpse of a dead dog to breed in the warmth of the sunlight to be seen by

everyone. He does this to seem mentally insane, he wishes people to view him as this so that they will talk to him as if he was not hoping to get information about the death of his father. This connects to motif of rot and decay simply because it is describing maggots eating on a decaying rotten corpse of a lifeless dog.
In Hamlets eyes the departed is nothing more than the deceased, it does not matter. If a powerful king died or a defenseless peasant both are now the same now. Nothing more than food for the worms the ruler of all diets. During this time Claudius is questioning Hamlet about Polonius’s body, because Hamlet stabbed and killed him then hid the body in Castle Elsinore. “We fatten ourselves for the worms to eat when we are dead. A fat king or a skinny beggar are just two dishes of the same meal.” (IV.iii.26) this is said by Hamlet when king Claudius questions him about the body of Polonius. He is trying to covey the message of in death fortune and fame is meaningless, the worms do not discriminant. This links to the motif of rot and decay because the thought of a slimily worms slowly inching their way through a body conveys the gruesome message of decay and rotting bodies.
The gruesome truth of a meaningful life is meaningless in death is portrayed quite a few times. When Hamlet escapes his fate from execution in England he returns to Denmark just in time for Ophelia’s funeral. Before the ceremony starts Hamlet is in a dug up grave yard, he stumbles across a skull of the old king’s jester Yorick. “Now it is property of lady worm, its lower jaw knocked off and thwacked on the noggin with a shovel” (V.i.85) This statement made by Hamlet conveys the message of in death you are nothing but a name and food for the worms, power that was once held means nothing in the afterlife and once again the worms will be the true kings in the ground. This links to the motif of rot and decay because an undug grave yard full of rotting bodies is conforms to the message of rot and decay. Also it pronounces worms as the emperor of all societies once more which shows rot and decay of the human body in the afterlife.
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet the motif of rot and decay is dominate throughout the whole play.

Scenes such as maggots and a dead dog, worms being the ruler of all diets, and unearthed skulls confirm this with the utmost authority. The motif of rot and decay is limitless in Hamlet. It improves on the intense imagery William Shakespeare has to offer in his plays, making it more realistic for the readers as if it was to be placed in the actual scene. Hamlet is a play that teaches us to love and imply intense imagery to improve on the play, it lets us experience rot and decay first hand as if the scene were to

happen.